The portraits on this wall are of people who arrived in Otago up to the end of 1849. The top row consists of large oil paintings and includes the two leaders of the 1848 settlers – Captain William Cargill and Reverend Thomas Burns – along with their wives. The photographic portraits from the second row onwards are arranged in a chronological sequence by date of arrival. However, husbands and wives have been kept together in this arrangement even where they arrived on different ships. In these cases the couples are positioned according to the earlier date of arrival.

The sequence starts with Edwin Palmer who arrived in Otago on a sealing expedition ship in 1825. Other whalers, missionaries, surveyors and ‘forerunners’ complete this row. The famous pioneer group of 1848, whose arrival marked the official beginning of the Otago settlement, starts on the third row with passengers from the John Wickliffe and Philip Laing.

This is only a small sample of the Museum’s collection of settler portraits. Thousands of other portraits are kept in a special storage area. Digital access to any of these portraits is available in the Museum’s Research Centre.